tor had enlightened his flock about the Jews. To so favorable an extent, indeed, that many who might have been anti-Semites, may have reconsidered as a result of the minister’s talk. One woman even remarked that she had learned for the first time that Jesus was a Jew.
Rev. Rogers explained the persistence of the Jews in the world in three words, his text for the evening: “Jehovah hath said.” A hard-hitting Baptist preacher recently from west of the “Bible belt” he proclaimed that “the Jew is not in the world by accident to be forgotten, to be slighted. He is here by God’s choice and by God’s wish and by God’s authority.”
Rev. Rogers, it soon became apparent, was preaching good old-fashioned Baptist gospel. By a series of quite amazing and lucid quotations from the Scriptures he was attempting to show the congregation, including the Jews that the Baptist was the right faith.
INVITES NEW MEMBERS
When the sermon was over, the minister invited his hearers to approach him about joining the church. But when asked if he was seeking converts the minister answered in the negative.
“I have,” he said, “no other aim than the preaching of the gospel.”
Asked why he had chosen the misleading title for his sermon, Dr. Rogers made the following explanation:
“I have been asked that,” he said, “by many others. The title viewed through the eyes of the sermon is not possible of misinterpretation. That is how I viewed it. I couldn’t foresee the manner in which others unacquainted with my beliefs would view it.”
To the suggestion that the title had publicity value Dr. Rogers entered no denial.
RABBI PROMISES ANSWER
Rabbi Jerome Lawn of a Washington Heights temple, the minister disclosed, had called him regarding his announced title and promised he would answer it in a sermon Sunday morning. Dr. Rogers couldn’t understand how he could be answered before he had spoken. But he added: “I said nothing that would offend a Jewish minister unless he was afraid that Jews might be convinced to my way of thinking by what I said.”
Dr. Rogers has been in his present parish for the past eight months. He came to New York from the Hinson Memorial Baptist Church of Portland, Ore. A Canadian, he received his seminary training at Brandon, Canada, and his academic training in England.
SAMPLES FROM SERMON
Among the minister’s utterances during the sermon are the following:
“The story of the Jew is the most romantic story in the world.
“Israel has a wonderful past, a tragic present and a more glorious future.”
“Until the Jews see the glory of Jesus, they will live in the House of Desolation.”
“There is little difference between the orthodox Hebrew and the devout Christian. The Jew prays for the Messiah. The Christian prays for the Second Messiah. Both will be the same person, Jesus. And Israel will be his chosen people.”
‘UNDIGESTED JONAH’
Explaining the Jonah simile in the title, Dr. Rogers referred to the Jews as the “world’s undigested Jonah.”
“One of these days,” he said, “he (the Jew) will repent and his commission will be renewed. With this national repentance will come the glory of the Lord upon the Jews.”
The Baptist minister said the Lord is not through with the Jews. He pointed out that all his enemies have suffered. Haman, he said, expressed hatred and contempt for the Jews and was hanged. The Jews who were thrown to the lions were unhurt. The Babylonian Empire tried to banish the Jews and fell. The Roman Empire tried to destroy the Jews and was itself destroyed. The Russian Czars tried to get rid of the Jews but they were exiled and today there is Communism.
“No modern attempt,” he said, “will ever destroy the Jews and overthrow the purpose of God for the Jews are a people with a mission.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
